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Lotor smiled down at his husband in his arms. It'd been over ten thousand years since he'd gotten to hold Lance, and he couldn't be happier.
He watched as Lance breathed in and out, just sleeping, with a smile on his face. Lotor had certainly missed the smile. His scent. Everything he'd always noticed about his husband, but never commented on. Now he could again, he could scream from the top of the castle every beautiful thing he noticed.
He leaned forward and placed a kiss to Lance's forehead. Pulling away he stood from the bed and went to the bathroom part of Lance's quarters. He reached into the drawer and pulled the brush Lance always kept for him. He started brushing out the tangles of his hair. He got halfway through it when he felt hands on his hips and looked up into the mirror to smile at Lance.
Lance yawned as he leaned against Lotor's back. "Good morning."
He leaned forward, pushing his nose against Lotor's neck and breathing in. "Good morning, darling. Any reason as to why you're sniffing my neck?"
Lance shook his head. "None. Other than maybe I'm very happy that none of yesterday was a dream."
Lotor shook his head. "Nothing was a dream. We are truly together again. But you need to hold back. I need to finish brushing my hair before we go down to eat with the other paladins and the girls."
Lance nodded. "I'd ask to do it for you, but then we'd be here forever, me combing my fingers through your hair."
Lotor smiled. "I feel the same way about you love. Once I finish here we can go down. I have a group to tell you and the others about. Hopefully we can all come together to work with them. All of us should be able to take down Zarkon."
Lance placed a kiss on Lotor's nose before he went back to the bed to fix the sheets. "Alright love, just hurry up. We have much to speak about. And we paladins have....training."
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They made their way down to the dining room together. Making small jokes and talking like the ten thousand years had never separated them.
It took them no time at all to make it to the dining hall, walking into Allura talking to Lotor's Generals, and the humans still uncomfortable about what to do with themselves around these Galra.
Lance shook his head and turned to the humans. "They are just as much people as you are. Yes they are very strong, and slightly scarier. That doesn't meant they're not normal. Acxa is a neat freak and will punch anyone who touches her things and moves them out of place. Zethrid while big, is a giant bear when she wants to be, which is almost always. She will hug anyone who needs one, and if she can't or doesn't want to, she still shows her support to those in need. Narti though technically blind and deaf uses her cat to see. Even though the cat is a necessity, she would own five hundred cats if possible, because she likes animals more than other people. Ezor is the biggest goofball you will ever meet. She has one stuffed toy that she picks up from every planet she visits. Always a toy, always stuffed, the animals differ, but she has so many of them. Lotor here is a giant dork who loves music, anything from anywhere, he also loves small animals and will probably squeal when he first sees the mice. Be gentle to each of them."
Everyone stared at him for a moment as they tried to process the things Lance had said. When they had all finally accepted what he said and truly heard it the humans snickered to themselves. The Generals looked slightly angry but couldn't refute what was said.
Lotor shook his head. "I would tell him to stop spouting these things, but they are all the truth. And we have nothing to use against him. Other than he is very competitive when he wants to be. He has confidence but he also has many insecurities. While he's amazing, he doesn't like to believe it."
Lance squeaked as he tried to handle the backstabbing that was taking place.
Pidge nodded their head. "I can absolutely see all of that."
The other humans nodded and Allura agreed.
Lance decided the only out was to change the subject. "Alright, this seems fine. But what are the plans for today?"
Allura smirked. "We all see the deflection, but because of the importance of our mission, we will allow it Lance. This one time. Now the plan is some hand to hand combat training. Lion bonding. And mind melding. At least for the training aspect of this. We also have to carve the conditions of the alliance, and then work on plans for the future of how we shall fight Zarkon."
They all nodded as Lotor spoke up. "I think we will have a better chance at defeating my father, if we use the group I already have an alliance with. I believe they would be more than willing to agree to an alliance with my husband. And I think...you'll be happy to have them as an ally."
Allura tilted her head. "Well, as long as it is beneficial to Voltron and the Universe, I don't see why not. But let us dig into the meal Hunk prepared. Then we will start the training."
They all agreed and dug into their meals quickly, even if the humans had to work hard to stomach the taste of the food goo.
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They all had their lions outside the castle. They waited for Lance and Allura to let them know what they were to do. Lotor was in Blue with Lance and he couldn't help but smile at his husband.
"Alright gang. Today we start letting you learn full control of your lion and then we'll try to form Voltron again. We can hope, that we do it the same as the first time. Smooth, and simple. There is a high chance, that it won't work. We are a newly formed team. We know very little about each other, and we have had no bonding time. We probably should have tried to bond through mind melds first. But we'll see if we can recreate and form Voltron as smoothly as before. First of course, we'll be letting you fly around with your lions. First is a form of lion bonding - we'll all fly very high, and then you'll be looking through your lion's eyes. It's the perfect first test. Now, if you can't see through your lions eyes, that's fine. Your bonds have just formed, but it'll tell us how close you are to bonding more."
Pidge sighed. "So we have to do this, fine, but only because Green believes it's beneficial. If she didn't, I wouldn't stand for such."
Lance snorted as did Hunk. "Ugh Pidge, you do know that you're talking to literal royalty? Both Lance and Lotor are both literal Princes. And you are saying you wouldn't stand for this."
Shiro smiled. "They are royalty, there's no doubt about that. But I have a feeling, that Lance doesn't care, do ya Lance?"
Lance shook his head though they couldn't see him. "No I don't. Even back on Altea those closest to me were always told to throw the stuffy Quiznak out. As my team, you're all just as important to me. And also, as a Paladin this is your job. You don't just get to say this training is beneath you. And bonding with your lion is always a special feeling for sure. Isn't that right Blue?" Blue reared back and roared in agreement, all the other lions joining in.
Lotor shook his head. "Still riling up each lion I see. How is it that they all respond to you but not even Zarkon could get them to do so?"
Lance giggled. "Well, it's probably because I spent the most time with them. Whenever I wasn't doing my duties or spending time with you, I was bonding with Blue. But not just her, I went and spent time with each of them. Since all of us are parts of Voltron, we're all connected, but it's through the lions that the bond is formed. So the lions are the most integral part of it. I always told the others that bonding with every lion will open up a deeper bond with your own. None of them listened to me, but having their lions do tricks or not listen to freak out the paladins was always fun."
Keith growled out. "Don't you dare. Ever. Use that with Red and I. Understand space elf?"
Lance snickered. "I don't know what an elf is exactly, but absolutely. Unless Red asks for some ideas, and then it'll be because you pissed Red off and not me. Now let's go paladins! Up in the sky. Just follow my lead."
They all made their way into the air, following after Lance. They all came to the top and Lance called to Coran. "You have it all ready Coran?"
"Righty indeed Lance! Got everything set! Should I start up the you know what now? Is it time for it?"
Lance chuckled. "Yes. The time is now!"
Coran whooped. "Good. I have needed things like these to get my bones going! Now I'm putting it into play now, and also getting the mind gear all ready for when you come back. And the setting it added."
"Woah! Why can't I see?!" Pidge shrieked slightly.
Keith growled out. "Damn it, what have you done?"
Hunk was freaking out. "So everyone can't see, right? It's not just me? Was it the food goo?! I think that might be the cause. I knew it wasn't smart to eat that stuff. It smells wrong, and tastes wrong."
Shiro shook his head as he tried asking Black. "Guys, calm down. It's not the food goo, Black doesn't think so at least."
Lance smiled. "It's not the food goo Hunk. This is part of the training. Your mission now, is to connect to your lion. You will use that bond to look through their eyes. You'll be falling with your lions, kind of. We'll be flying down from all the way up here with you having no ability to see.....unless you take this seriously enough to connect. If you can't connect this time it's alright. We just need to see how much farther your bonds need to reach. We can't move forward with your bonds, until you find where you stand with your lion."
Hunk still slightly panicked couldn't help but cut in. "So wait. We're going to technically free fall to our death...and if we can't see through our lions eyes. Does that mean you'll find new paladins once we die?" Hunk felt a violent backlash in his head at his words. "Ow! What was that?!"
Lance snickered. "Yellow's pissed. You just insulted her ability to protect you, as well as how much she already cherishes you. Once your lions form the bond, as I said yester-quintent, the bond is unbreakable. Even though the old paladins are dead, or gone, their bond to the lions is technically still there. Now that you understand not to piss off your lion, otherwise they won't allow you to stay in that piloting chair. They will kick you out until you learn better. But now for the challenge. Let's fall, paladins."
Lance closed his eyes tight, having left his helmet back in the castle so he could still talk to Lotor. Lotor reached forward and cut the comm, leaning forward to whisper into Lance's ear.
"Were you the best at this back then?"
Lance chuckled as he plunged down with Blue and connected to her, watching the skies of Arus pass quickly. "No, actually Alfor was the most connected, along with Zarkon. They were the most connected, but they had their bonds the longest. As the first paladins picked they had the longest time to bond with their lions, and not only that. They also didn't have any of the extra paladin bonding to deal with at the time. It was pretty easy for them to spend time bonding with their lions as they had so little paladin bonding time. But Blue and I were always good at this, even if we weren't the best. Blue is still adamant our bond is the strongest, despite her being the most accepting, very few people ever truly interest her."
Lotor nodded and pressed a kiss to Lance's ear as he let the comms come through again, just in time for them to hear Pidge. "Yeah, no. I don't like skydiving, and honestly, this is the scariest kind of skydiving I've ever seen. I can barely see through Green's eyes, and it's cutting in and out."
Pidge pulled back, going down to the ground, Coran letting Pidge see again.
Hunk groaned and gagged as he and his lion fell faster. "Y-yeah. I can't do this. Too fast, too shaky. Too pitch black. I'm pulling out before I barf. Good luck guys."
Hunk pulled back too and landed beside Pidge, watching the rest of the training.
Keith tried to bond with Red. But no matter what he did, how he yelled at Red, he wasn't letting him see anything. He kept pushing until he landed Red and himself, straight down into the sand.
Lance snickered as he was connected to Blue's eyes. She smiled but berated him for making fun of Paladin, even if only in his head. He nodded and together they landed on a rock cliff and looked up at Shiro still going. The man had connected to Black, easily. Flying down and maneuvering through the rocks and pillars in his way.
Lance couldn't help but smile as Shiro landed beside Blue. He had a true bond with Black. That would certainly come in handy in the future, he certainly couldn't wait to see how deep their bond would grow. He was glad that Black would have someone else to enjoy time with and didn't stop his snort as she nudged his mind letting him know just how little she needed a bond to go on.
He raised his mind's hands in a placating gesture and apologized for assuming. She left him quickly and he smirked. "Great job paladins! Now to the lounge room. We'll be going there for mind melding training as well as you get to hear more about how you did here. No matter what happened though, you all did well."
Lance flew Blue back towards her hangar, a smile on his lips as Lotor slid his fingers through Lance's soft hair, smiling at him, and making sure not to leave his side.
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Lance and Lotor made their way to the lounge, hands intertwined. Neither of them able to stop the smiles that were on their faces; completely happy, together.
Lance dragged Lotor into the room and they plopped down onto the couch beside Allura. The only General present was Acxa who seemed very happy hovering near Allura, where they could speak anytime.
Pidge smiled and opened her mouth. "Alright, so how did each of us do? How's our bonds or whatever?"
Lance snorted and turned to Coran, who happily took the reins and started off. "Well paladins. You all did splendidly! As Lance said it doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have a strong bond! It just means it's a very deep bond if you can succeed at it! And so early, it's surprising you all got as far as you did! Number Five - I have you ranked by height - you were getting glimpses with your lion! Which means, there is a very high chance of you gaining a very deep bond with your lion! Congrats!"
Pidge smirked and turned to Keith as he growled at her. "Now Keith don't be so angry, Red just didn't want you to invade his brain I guess."
Coran shrugged. "It's probably more that Red needs to bond with Keith, more. You see the Red lion is always the hardest to trust their paladin, also the hardest to find a paladin for. Red is always headstrong and you must first gain his respect and then his trust! You gained enough respect to fly him, but for more than that, you'll need bonding time! Which we will give you, I promise! But you did well anyway! You tried and that's what matters Number Four!"
Keith scoffed as he leaned back into the couch and promptly crossed his arms. They all snickered slightly at his reaction as Coran went at it again. "Number two! You did well! It seemed like Yellow would have absolutely bonded deep enough with you.....if you hadn't been so sick. Maybe more bonding, but also more practice on smooth flying? Then you should be able to do it no problem! I believe you can do it! Number one!"
Shiro smiled at Coran's happy attitude and nodded for him to start. "You did an excellent job! Black is obviously very close to you already! I know your bond with Black will grow very deep, I believe you'll be able to do anything you could think possible with her, once your bond is closer. Excellent job!"
"Lance! I know you did well! Blue as always is completely trusting of her paladin! Not that she would think otherwise, after all you both have been through! Wasn't there once a Weblum mission?"
Lance stiffened as he remembered that fiasco. "Coran.....I never want to think about that again. That was the worst mission I ever went on. And there was a couple I almost died. That was still the worst. Please don't make me think of that again. If we ever have a need in the future.....and I'm sure we will. I will not be going."
Coran laughed. "Well son, I can truly understand. Weblums are beautiful beasts but very dangerous! We can only hope it's many quintents before we have any need! Now that you have all heard what your bond is like. Not to say all of you can't drastically form deep bonds with your lions, it's all about the experiences and bond you share! You'll all get it eventually! But on to more training! It's time for mind melding! Always a fun exercise! Even if.....we only used it a couple times with the original paladins.....especially after the Yellow one....got sick....but anyway!" Coran exclaimed, pulling the mind gear from the bag beside him, completely missing the looks of horror on the human's faces. "These are to connect and bond your very minds, your consciousness! As paladins, bonding with your lions is imperative! But bonding between paladins is important also! The bonds between each and every one of you must be very strong so as to form Voltron! Since you didn't try that before, well....you'll probably have more chances before we must....fight or anything! But put these on and I'll explain how they work....before we turn them on!"
They all took one of the headsets and put them on. Lotor and Lance snickered as the other paladins had to fight with theirs. Lance took pity on Pidge and showed her exactly how to change the shape to fit her head. The others followed his lead, turning to Coran to await his instructions.
"Alright, Paladins! Now what's going to happen is you're all going to be trying to bond! We'll first try to picture your lions and form Voltron! Once that's done, you'll then be opening up a little about your family or what your past was like, or just what you like! This isn't to make you uncomfortable, I promise! It's just to make your bond stronger! And I actually added a feature that you won't be able to remove them until this session is finished, the first time the other paladins had to do this, Zarkon walked off. So I don't want that happening again! All ready?"
Pidge sputtered. "Wait! We'll have to do what now?! I can't just open up about personal things!"
Hunk groaned. "Pidge. I don't want to either! There are some things I don't want Lance to see. Mostly because he might be scarred by some memes or......other things. But we need to do it. If we can't form Voltron because we aren't bonded enough.....what are we gonna do?"
Pidge growled and Shiro laid his hand on her shoulder. "Pidge, he's right. I don't want any of you to have to see what I went through. Or other things. But we need to do this."
Lance snorted. "Calm your quiznaks paladins. I promise we won't see anything but what you're thinking of at that moment. So as long as you don't think hard about what you don't want us to see - we won't see it. We can't just rummage through your mind, that would be a gross invasion of privacy. Something even Alteans were averse to passing that line."
Pidge sighed feeling a little better as she released the tension from her shoulders and leaned back into the couch. Shiro also looked less burdened and relaxed as well.
Lance reached his hand over and squeezed Lotor's with a smile on his face; all of them turning to Coran.
"Alright Paladins! Turning on in, 3, 2, 1. And it's on! Now first things first! Try to imagine your lion forming in front of you."
All the paladins closed their eyes, Lance keeping his open to watch the others.
They all formed them pretty easily, even if Pidge's was flickering for a picture.
"Good Paladins! Keep that image, and now form Voltron!" They all started to do it. The lions flying into formation to form Voltron.
It was going well, until Pidge's started to flicker stronger. The photo kept coming back. It looked like Pidge and a girl holding onto her. Lance didn't know what it was but he couldn't help wondering as he watched Pidge's face get more and more tense and frustrated.
"Come on number 5!"
The others had Voltron mostly formed and Pidge tried but the only thing all of them could see anymore was the picture.
Pidge growled and went to stand. "This is stupid! What's the point of this? We form little Voltron's? What's that gonna do to help us form the real thing?"
Shiro grabbed her hand before she could leave. "Pidge wait. I understand, it doesn't make much sense, at least not to us, yet. But Lance and Coran have done this before. They know what they're doing. We have to follow them on this."
Pidge growled before she plopped back down onto the couch.
Lance let go of Lotor's hand with a soft smile as he moved closer to Pidge and grabbed her hand. "Pidge. I don't know what's wrong, I don't know who is in that picture with you. But from the connection I could feel your pain. I'm not judging because you don't want to open whatever that is to us. And you don't have to. We all have things we don't want others to know. But this is imperative. It may seem dumb now, but as we sit here with our minds open to each other, it forms deep bonds. It's not easy to see at first, but the more time we spend together - the thicker it will get, and the easier it will be. It's not easy opening yourself up to people you know very little about. I know. But please, don't give up just because you don't want us to know about that. We will all drop it, and not ask, if that's what you want. Just, please, stay for the rest, we can all talk about ourselves. If you want to keep that to yourself - we won't trouble you about it. Until you're ready to tell us."
Lotor snickered behind Lance. "He's not joking either. He will not ask about it - no matter how much it kills him. And it will, the suspense of what it could be. He will eventually have to know, and you'll know when that is, when he doesn't stop staring at you for long periods. But he will never be the one to bring it up. He doesn't like encroaching on people's personal things unless asked."
Acxa giggled. "It's true Green Paladin. I had a bad past where I was enslaved, and at one point Lotor let it slip into a mind link between them - Lance wanted to know more than anything. But his first words to me after were - 'Don't worry, I promise I won't ask or bring it up, unless you need someone to talk to. I'm always here, and I will never let it slip during a mind meld, or anything else.' He still hasn't let it slip once."
Pidge grumbled as she slid back down into the seat. "Fine! But I'm not happy about this, and what's next since we can't form little Voltron?"
Coran smiled. "Good question number 5! It's now time for each of you to dig deep and tell something important about yourself! Your past, your future, or your family! Anything to help strengthen your bond!"
Hunk whimpered but sat forward. "I'll go first. Um...so when I was on Earth, one of my biggest dreams, was to become an engineer, but to also cook. It's honestly my biggest hobby but also my passion other than fixing things. My younger siblings, always told me that I, was the best cook of the family. Every time I went home, all of my family beg for me to be the cook. I honestly kinda miss it when I'm at the Garrison. But I can only hope that I can work on that food goo to make it taste better. And I still kind of hope for those dreams, whenever we get back to Earth, honestly."
Coran clapped. "Good job number 2! That was perfect! Now the other paladins know you better! Always a good step to better bonds!"
Shiro shook his head as he sat forward. "Alright, since I know Keith isn't ready to go, I guess I'll go. Before I went on the Kerberos mission, I hoped to do a few years as an exploratory pilot and go on to do more exploring of the universe for the Garrison and then maybe settle down. Now that I know I'll be doing quite a bit of exploring around space. I don't think that'll be what I want to do when I get back. But maybe teaching? I did always like tutoring the younger students at the Garrison. And maybe talking to my parents again would be nice. I know we haven't been the closest because of some of the things my father didn't like about me. But I can't wait to see my Mom again. As much as I don't want to say it - I miss her a lot. She's a wonderful woman - she actually threatened Iverson for me once. But I think teaching is where I'll go whenever we get to Earth - if I get there. I think it'd be nice."
Coran wiped tears from his eyes. "Number 1. That was beautiful. I know my mother was always my inspiration for teaching the younger Alteans. So I certainly understand! Now Keith? Pidge? Lance?"
Lance looked at the last two humans and snickered as neither looked ready. "I'll go since both Pidge and Keith look ready to bolt from the room, and the castle. Where do I start? My past.....I was a prince. I was oldest, but I was never set to take over the kingdom. Altea had a strict rule - the opposite would take over from the last. Since my father was the one born to the throne, Allura was to take the throne. And when I became a paladin, I was okay with it. I had a calling - one bigger than anything else. And then I made friends with the others. Zarkon was like a second father to me. I was close friends with Lotor, he was honestly one of the few things that kept me sane at times. Using him and the other paladins to annoy his father was fun. But we trained hard, in case anything was to happen. And it was very hard. Until I finally realized how I felt about Lotor," Lance paused as he leaned onto Lotor's shoulder, scooting closer, "he was.....amazing. He would always rush into attacks and missions, he was headstrong. There were times his father would get so exasperated. He needed a son that could sit down. But Lotor was never that. There was one meeting he snuck out of. He dragged me with him and we took a fighter at the time. We almost crashed it. While we had watched both our fathers fly ships before - neither of us were old enough to learn quite yet at the time. But it took me quite a bit longer to realize my feelings for him than it seems it took him. But once I knew - I knew I wanted no one else. We got married not long after. My soul mate always. But then we got into actual wars - or we had missions. And we had responsibilities. We only had so much time together. And we used every second of it. I was happy, as we all were at the time. Until Daibazal fell."
Shiro's brow scrunched. "Daibazal?"
Lance looked shocked as he realized what he'd said. "Oh. It was the Galra home world. You see Zarkon's wife was an Altean Alchemist who believed in science above all else. On Daibazal there was a rift to another universe. Honerva - Zarkon's wife and Lotor's mother - was sent by our father to study it. They took parts of the quintessence and it ran indefinitely. It never stopped moving. But the rift was fine. At least so we thought - the more experiments that went on the worse it got. Years went by and one little creature came from the other universe. It was the only thing that made it through the rift unharmed. It was kept contained but.........it eventually got out. And it was stronger than anything any of us had ever seen. We were horrified. At least, Alfor and those of us not......obsessed with the other universe. Honerva was a good mother, I watched her take care of Lotor, and I know she was a good woman. She trained me for a time. But.....she was around the raw quintessence too long. It did something to her. And she wouldn't stop. My father begged her to close the rift. To shut down the project, anything. He also begged Zarkon. Lotor even tried. But Zarkon would have none of it. He would follow Honerva to death - and doom all galra with them. But at the time it didn't seem too bad. It was bad - but not - not as horrific as it got. Eventually more of the creatures made their way out. They became unstoppable. And they had to put a barrier up, it wouldn't hold for long. And Alfor was still working on the lions. Zarkon came and begged our father to show what he was working on. They needed help right then. Before the whole planet went down with it. That was when he showed all of them that Voltron was done. He let everyone bond with a lion. As he made them and he bonded with Red he realized. That the lions - during construction - had gained a consciousness. They made decisions, had substance to them, soul. Something he never expected. But they needed Voltron. They worked on it for weeks. It was when Honerva became insane that Zarkon decided to take matters into his own hands. He begged them all for forgiveness and staged the destruction of the rift." Lance leaned harder into Lotor. Taking a calming breath as he tried to push away too dark memories.
"They believed him, we all did. It was.....different. He was our friend, father figure, our leader. And we went with him, not knowing he had Honerva in the Black Lion with him. We fought the creatures and did destroy them....barely. And as we went to open it wider - as Honerva had told him would be the only way to work at closing it - he left Black. He took himself and Honerva to the rift and they both fell. They died there. We held a funeral for them, we were glad the rift was closed, but we all mourned. It was.......a grave time. The Galra had just lost their leader and their home world. Voltron was forced to destroy it to close the rift completely. We comforted them, and gave them a home. But before the funeral could happen, Zarkon and Honerva both awoke. They were....alive. At least....we thought they were. They pretended to be okay, pretended to forgive us for what we had to do. They ran their government as well as they could for a while. But they pulled as many of the galra from Altea as they could. We should have known then. It wasn't long until my father got some kind of information that Zarkon was targeting Altea. It was last minute, and we only had enough time to take the castle of lions and the lions themselves. Lucky as we were that Zarkon hadn't taken Black back. Altea was destroyed and I've already said what happened next. But Zarkon started the war then. When he broadcasted himself telling all the galra left and all of his fleets, that our father and all of Altea had caused the destruction of their home. And that he was starting a war with us."
Lotor wrapped his arms around Lance as he shivered at the memories. Mostly the ones of him losing Lotor. And Lotor making sure that Lance was real in his arms. Replaying the horror of knowing his husband had died all those years ago, and was only just now, with him again.
"That's some heavy shit Lance."
Shiro popped Pidge on the back of the head. "Language!"
"Whatever. That's real rough. But yeah, I guess I can go? I've always been told I'm really smart. It was half something I was born with, and half because I was always trying to catch up to.....someone. He was always a genius and I wanted to stay close to him. So I worked for it. And at some point, I realized I loved working on codes and things, and went to the Garrison. I never had much of a plan when......big things happened. And I went to the Garrison to find someone.....two someones. I still haven't found them, but I hope to soon. It's one of the biggest reasons I'm here. Speaking of - Lotor, do you have any records of prisoners?"
Lotor cocked his head as he thought. "No I don't think so." He watched Pidge's shoulders fall and almost as if the human deflated. "But, if you talk to Ezor and Acxa, they should be able to help you get into the databases to look through the files."
Pidge's eyes brightened. "Then maybe this won't be as bad a thing as I originally thought! As for future for me, until I find....these two.....I have no plans for on Earth. Maybe once they are safe? Doesn't matter. Now you Keith, go little emo desert boy."
Keith snorted as he shifted on the couch. "Hey, I take only a small offense to that. Can't be too angry about the truth. But I don't know. I don't have much family back on Earth. My only real family is Shiro - he's my brother, adoptive or not. And I've only ever had one goal since I started at the Garrison really. To get away; since I have no real parents, and Shiro's have never liked me, I always decided space was the place for me. It was far away and I've always been fascinated by it anyway. So - it's always been my dream, and for my future once you all decide to go to Earth? Who knows what I'll do. Stay close to Shiro but......probably also do some stuff around. Take Red around the Universe. Enjoy planets and sites probably. That good enough?"
Lance smiled. "It is. Thank you guys, for opening up to us. I know it's hard since we're aliens and you don't really know us much yet. But this will certainly help. Plus, the more we know about each other, the more we can tease each other. And that's always fun."
Pidge snickered as Shiro sighed. "Yes! Someone who gets it. I love teasing people, and let me tell you, you space elf. It's hard not to make fun of you for something I know you won't get. But I will eventually make fun of your boyfriends fabulous hair. He's like a walking L'oreal ad. Can we take these things off our heads now Coran?"
Coran smiled. "Yes! You all did very well opening up to each other! I applaud each of you for doing so! You didn't completely trust each other. But this is a good start! You'll be leaning on each other soon enough! You'll probably be closer than the last paladins! Though they didn't have much time as paladins, they were close as people. So maybe work on that but," he moved around and clicked a couple buttons on the panel before he smiled up at them, "Alright! You can now take them off! And I think. It's about time we go and eat something! Some nutritious food goo is in order! With everyone! Including the wonderful Lady Generals!"
They all removed the bands from their heads and laid them on the table. Lotor smiled as he stood and pulled Lance up. The others following suit as they stood as well.
"Acxa, get the girls. We'll all sit down and eat, as well as bring up Blade. And if you could bring our communicator connected to their frequency - that'd be helpful."
She nodded as she left, sending a wave to Allura and the others.
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They all made their way to the dining room. Lance plopped down into the chair beside Allura, pulling Lotor in the chair next to his as he watched the other paladins sit on the other side of the table. Coran smiled as the door opened to let in the girls.
"Aw Lancey! I wanted to sit next to you!" Ezor pouted at him when Narti shook her head and sat at the seat closest to the exit with Kova on her shoulder. The space mice seemed to bury themselves closer to Allura's skin but Kova ignored them.
Lance snickered when Acxa poked Ezor in the side. "Be courteous Ez. It's not our castle. And beside, I think we can allow Lotor to sit next to him."
Ezor begrudgingly allowed it as she sat between Acxa and Zethrid. "Ezzie it's not so bad! We're still on the same side of the table right?"
She grunted, but he could see the smile on her face. He turned his attention away as Coran came in with plates of food goo and distributed them out to each of them. Finally having served all of them, he too sat down with a plate of his own.
"Well all! Let us dig in!"
They all smiled and started to eat. The paladins ate their food slowly. Shiro had half of his finished before he set his utensils down. "Alright, what is this Blade you talked about Lotor?"
Allura nodded as she finished chewing the goo she'd been eating. "Yes, I've been curious since you said something."
Lotor smiled. "Acxa did you bring the communicator?"
"Yes, sir." She quickly handed him the small communicator as he turned to the other at the table.
"Ten thousand years ago, after Altea fell, and Zarkon took power back. It didn't take long for quite a few of the galra empire to realize that, their Emperor wasn't the same King they'd had. He was different, brutal. And didn't care when they died. And as more galra were forced to harm innocent people, and take over their governments, lives, and sometimes even destroy the planet with them on it. And so, a group of galra - most of them, the halfbreeds," Lotor said it with a hint of anger and pain, making it obviously a dirty word to the galra, "halfbreeds as the purists called them, were all tired of it. There were some that weren't mixed blooded but most were. And they were tired of being treated like less, and what they were being forced to do. So they came together, hiding their existence, faking their deaths, or finding ways to infiltrate. They became known as the Blade of Marmora. A group of rebels and a resistance against Zarkon."
Lance started at the name. "Marmora?! As in the renowned military hero that saved countless galran lives? The one that was a hero to all even as we grew up? The one we met and discussed the importance of knowledge and self awareness?"
Lotor smiled. "Yes, he was through with the way people were being treated. And the resistance has been working for thousands of years to infiltrate and to find a way to bring Zarkon down. And now I can ask if you'd like an alliance with them. We already have one, and they are very trustworthy. I can vouch for them personally. But it's your decision if you wish to a line yourselves with them. Though I believe if you do accept, we'll have an even better chance to defeat Zarkon. If we work together."
Lance nodded as he looked to Allura and the paladins. Allura seemed to understand it. "I think it would be a good idea, but could you get them to send an emissary? I'd like to speak to someone in person, before we make any concrete decisions. Now that we have all finished our food goo; time to make our way to the training deck. We have much to work on."
They all agreed as Ezor started to look excited. Lance couldn't help but shake his head as he leaned over and pecked Lotor's cheek. "Don't worry, love. I promise you, I have never cared whether you had Altean blood or not. You know that. I always found that rule stupid. And you are wonderful just the way you are. I promise you this."
Lotor smiled to him as he nodded, following behind all the others, watching Ezor practically bounce her way down the corridor. "I never doubted you felt that way. I've just been around that mindset quite often as of the last ten thousand years. Now, let's go and show those paladins what it is to truly fight, eh?"
Lance snorted but nodded as he followed them all into the room, slightly guilty for not properly warning the paladins about the beating that awaited them.
Oh well, at least it might be entertaining to watch, and educational for each of them......with no one getting injured.....he hoped.